Next time you hear a Republican, conservative, or tea bagger talk about the need for financial and personal responsibility in government, you'll want to ask them why Michele Bachmann's been stiffing so many businesspeople for so long.
Larry Bivins of the St. Cloud Times has the facts (link below), but he presented them in the wrong order. So I'll rewrite his story to make it clearer that this particular"conservative hero" is a g*dd*m hypocrite:
Bachmann's been a cash-cow for herself, the GOP, and right wing conservatism ever since she first rose to prominence in 2007. Example: in the space of a single month (July of this year) the Bachmann campaign has collected more than one million in contributions. She's got nearly twice that on hand.
So "lack of money" is not the problem for Bachmann. Why then, hasn't she paid out all the dough she owes to the people who worked for her on her presidential campaign last year? A year after her prez bid fizzled, they're still waiting around with their outstanding bills for services rendered.
The St. Cloud Times collected an impressive list of businesses that Bachmann is currently stiffing (below.) The saddest case is that of a small businessman who finally had to go to court to get Bachmann to pay what she owed. And even after he got the court order against her--it took an embarrassing article in Politico to get her to pay up.
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I'll bet the entrepreneur in question was all excited when he got the job of providing all the little golf carts to the Bachmann campaign so they could race around last year's Ames Presidential Straw Poll. I'll bet he said to himself: "Here's one client who won't stiff me on the carts--Michele Bachmann, personal and economic responsibility candidate, friend of the small businessperson, conservative icon who's a small businessperson herself--she knows what it means to pay the bills on time..."
She sure does, and she stiffed him silly and made him go to court to get his money. He's lucky he even got the golf carts back. (It seems that the Bachmann campaign just abandoned the carts out in some field. Seriously, see the story.)
“I can’t run my business like that,”(Cal Campbell of the Turf Cars golf cart rental company) said about having to wait a year to get paid.
You're right, Cal, you can't run your business like that. But this is megalomaniac Michele Bachmann we're talking about. The ordinary rules regarding business ethics, responsibility, and credibility don't apply if she thinks she can get away with something. Whether it's lying about the loyalty of fellow congressmen or beating you out of a lousy three thousand bucks--you can all suck wind as far as she's concerned.
Yeah, after almost a year of chasing after her with the bill Mr. Campbell got a court order instructing her to pay up. But she blew that off, too, and Campbell believes that it was the adverse publicity in the Politico article that finally shamed her into coughing up what she owed him. (He's got his own bills to pay, Michele! Would it have killed you to write a check for what you owe, without having to drag a court into it?)
It's not unusual for a presidential campaign to have debts. It is unusual for a conservative preaching personal responsibility, alleging her Christian character, and sporting a big fat campaign chest--to ignore outstanding bills for a year, until she's shamed into compliance with a court order. And I tend to agree with Mr. Campbell's take on the situation: if Politico hadn't run that embarrassing article, Campbell would still be left with his unpaid bill in his hand.
Hey, look, the St. Cloud Times lists some of the other businesses the Bachmann campaign is stiffing:
--Patton Boggs, a Washington D.C. lobbying firm. She owes them $20K.
--Nahigian Strategies, a political consulting firm. Bachmann owes $164,461.
--Strategic Fundraising Inc., in St. Paul. Bachmann owes them more than $504,000.
They're still waiting for their dough, a year later--and Michele's got two million in the campaign chest? Never mind; with her not paying is a matter of principle. Getting the money you're owed out of her is like trying to get blood out of a well-funded stone. I'd write to Politico, if I were those guys.
The funny thing is: all those millions of conservative suckers who want Michele in Washington because of her principled stand against "deficit spending." They want her in charge of paying the bills.
LINK:
http://www.sctimes.com/...